Luminaires with automated and remotely controllable functionality are well known in the entertainment and architectural lighting markets. Such products are commonly used in theatres, television studios, concerts, theme parks, night clubs and other venues. A typical product will typically provide control over the pan and tilt functions of the luminaire allowing the operator to control the direction the luminaire is pointing and thus the position of the light beam on the stage or in the studio. Typically this position control is done via control of the luminaire's position in two orthogonal rotational axes usually referred to as pan and tilt. Many products provide control over other parameters such as the intensity, color, focus, beam size, beam shape and beam pattern. The beam pattern is typically provided by a stencil or slide called a gobo which may be a steel, aluminum or etched glass pattern. The products manufactured by Robe Show Lighting such as the ColorSpot 1200E are typical of the art.
It is also well known to utilize a video projection engine as the light source in such a luminaire so as to be able to project moving images and video as well as the simple images provided by the beam patterning gobos. The Digital Spot 5000DT from Robe Show Lighting is an example of such a product.
It is also known to overlay and combine the images from a plurality of imaging luminaires into a single image. These images may completely overlap and be aligned so as to create a brighter image or may be positioned adjacent to each other so as to provide a single larger image. This may be done to increase the apparent brightness of an image buy overlaying two identical images from different luminaires or to provide a three dimensional image where the overlaid images from the two projectors are different and represent a scene or object as it would be seen from two slightly different positions representing the positions of our two eyes.
When two images are overlaid in this manner it is necessary to ensure that each eye of the viewer sees only one of the superimposed images. The left eye sees only the image intended for the left eye and the right eye sees only the image intended for the right eye. There are well known techniques for achieving this. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art system 100. Projectors 104 and 106 project images 112 and 114 respectively onto screen 102. The two images overlap. The light from projector 104 passes through filter/shutter 108 and the light from projector 106 passes through filter/shutter 110 before impinging on screen 102. One technique involves projecting one image 112 through a red filter 108 and the other 114 through a blue filter 110. The viewer wears spectacles which have one red filtered lens and one blue filtered lens so as to ensure that each eye will only see one image. This technique was used for Hollywood films for many years but tends to give an unnatural color cast to the resulting image. Another technique uses polarizing filters. One projector may be projected through a vertically oriented polarizing filter and the other through a horizontally oriented filter. The viewer again wears spectacles, but this time with the appropriate polarizing filters in front of each eye. A yet further technique uses filters with circularly polarized lenses. A still further technique utilizes a fast operating blackout shutter in front of each projector and similar blackout shutters in the spectacles; in this technique the left eye and right eye images are shown alternately and the shutters in the spectacles open and close to only allow each eye to see the screen when the correct image is present.
Notwithstanding the filtering technique used the prior arts systems use static luminaires or projectors and require time consuming alignment and set up before the three dimensional effect is achieved. Such systems cannot be moved or re-configured or moved easily.
There is a need for a luminaire projection system which can provide a three dimensional image output that may be incorporated into an automated luminaire.